How would you like to be known as the 'Crazy Man of Avize'? Well, it doesn't seem to concern Anselme Selosse. If he's crazy, put me in a straitjacket and I will gladly join him for a glass of his juicy young 1997 Domaine de Tara red.
There are a lot of old fuddy-duddies in the wine industry who feel everything has to be done the way it was done in great-grandfather's time, and if anyone does anything different, well, they are wrong and quite probably mad.
This is one reason why Mr Selosse is branded a crazy wine-maker. He comes from Champagne where he makes the family's Jacques Selosse bubbly. Not content with that, he has invaded the Rhone where his estate Domaine de Tara in the Cotes du Ventoux, north of Avignon, produces this luscious red.
Like many of the Rhone wines, this is a confused mix of shiraz, carignan and grenache, and I wouldn't be surprised if a few other grapes hadn't also jumped into the crushing vats. It has a surprisingly powerful 13.5 per cent alcohol, a buoyant mix of full fruit tastes and mild oak. It's a good sipping wine that's a joy to drink.
How does this make you crazy? Don't ask me.
Mount Ventoux is known as 'The Provence Giant' for its size and wines like this. The wine is big and powerful. Packed with flavour, it needs something like steak or a beef stew to go with it. I opened this with a friend and she loved the aroma so much she wanted to know if you could make it into a perfume.